Macro Monday 8th February 2021
The other day I saw a baffling tweet from someone angry that people were declaring ‘spring is here’. The person mansplained February and told people to ‘get your head down’. For me, observing even the most minute hint of spring in midwinter is a real cause for hope, especially in a pandemic. For me it’s the vixen’s glass-shattering bark in January, a sign that foxes are mating, and that cubs will soon be playing in the railway sidings among primroses and (in British urban environs) Spanish bluebells.
The seasons are not chunks of meat separated out through the year. I think it’s important we notice and appreciate the smaller things. They can teach us about our changing world.
Now to the macro. Last week we had one day of glorious sunshine, amongst what has otherwise been a grey sky shutdown. My personal relationship with direct sun is getting more complicated, with skin that burns within minutes without protection. This is the kind of weak winter sunlight I can get behind, or in front of?
On that sunny day I popped into my garden for just 10 minutes to catch some of those gentler rays and see what was stirring in the wild micro-world.
This fly was not bothered at all by my presence. I think it’s something like a yellow dung fly.
Revisiting one of the best patches for spiders and other inverts in my garden, I found this nursery web spider basking on the petal of a winter hellebore. They remind me of early spring, the time of lesser celandines.
On a nearby foxglove leaf was another spider. This is a species of wolf spider which is commonly found in this little patch. My spider knowledge is basic, but I would say these two species are common in urban areas.
Finally, it was nice to see some genuine larger fungi growing. This is maybe turkey tail or smokey bracket, a small polypore nonetheless. It’s growing on a small stump left from a tree of a former owner. I’m glad it’s there!
Thanks for reading.
Photos taken with Olympus E-M5 Mark III & 60mm f2.8 macro lens
Further reading
Pulling up roots and planting “whitethorn” 🇮🇪
On a recent trip to Ireland, my Mum and I spent some time at a garden centre trying to find hedging plants. Having been poisoned by cherry laurel once, and having professionally removed a lot of it, that was not on the agenda. Instead, I was looking along the lines of a good old conservation… Continue reading Pulling up roots and planting “whitethorn” 🇮🇪
Early spider orchids 🕷️
In early May I was fortunate enough to visit a chalk grassland site near Brighton with two people who knew the landscape extremely well. I had been invited to visit this area to help find early spider orchids 3 years ago but the pandemic got in the way of travelling there.… Continue reading Early spider orchids 🕷️
The fungus thriving in the Chernobyl nuclear reactor 🍄
I’ve been interested in the history of Chernobyl for several years, mainly after learning about the ecological experiment enforced by the need to abandon the site of the world’s worst nuclear disaster.… Continue reading The fungus thriving in the Chernobyl nuclear reactor 🍄
Daniel Greenwood 
Despite everything – nature goes on.
Amen
Yeah, I’ll celebrate every sign of spring. We certainly need it. And the sun – I’m with you in that I have a very ambivalent relationship with it. I have vitilago, so no protection and I have to smother myself in factor 50 when I go out in it, but that’s a price worth paying.
Sounds exactly like my experience of sunny days!